एचडीआई और भागीदार
एचडीआई और भागीदार
Young people’s decision-making matters
Game of Choice, Not Chance is a platform for creating fun mobile games where young people discover, explore, learn and play their way toward becoming empowered decision-makers. Within relatable game worlds co-created with the youth, players navigate challenges while gaining direct access to vital information and resources about their health and well-being.
As they play, young people discover how they can use their voices to shape their future and open new worlds of possibility in their lives.
Why decision-making? Young people too often lack decision-making agency
The decisions young people make—or are compelled to make—have a ripple effect on their lives now, and their futures as adults. For girls, a decision to stay in school can protect them against early marriage, pregnancy, and harmful norms. Yet too many do not have that option. Instead, they are forced to marry before they are ready.
We asked:
"What if?"
What if young people could enter alternate worlds as avatars, and gain access to myth-busting information, and explore their interests and preferences without pressure? What if they could try on unfamiliar options for size and experience the outcomes of different decisions?
What if—these powerful possibilities could be placed in the palms of their hands?
Through mobile games, they can.
एचडीआई और भागीदार
Go Nisha Go
Go Nisha Go is designed to increase girls’ fertility awareness knowledge and decision-making confidence, thus empowering them to make informed decisions, develop strong voices, and to become better equipped to realize their full potential.
Go Bro
Go Bro is an interactive life simulation game designed for teenage boys, offering a choose-your-own-adventure experience similar to Go Nisha Go. Players make decisions around friendships, school, sports, and personal growth, shaping their character's journey through adolescence in an engaging, relatable way.
Girls Hostel
A role-playing game designed for girls in Nepal to strengthen their confidence and expand their knowledge on sexual and reproductive health (SRH). It is being co-created with young girls across three provinces and is scheduled for launch in October 2024.
Gaining from Gaming
Role play & replay
Try different options, experience different outcomes, and ‘try again,’ all in a low-risk environment
Engage in a
private space
Explore accurate fertility awareness information and self-care resources that are culturally sensitive in a space that is confidential
Access Resources Directly
Have vital resources delivered directly into the palm of their hands and outside the health system
Receive Guidance
Get supportive nudges toward positive decisions and self-care from in-game mentor characters and links
What girls are saying
“Decisions are the power that can lead us to the places we want to go.”
~ Dehadrun
“The game talks about career, confidence-building, periods and products to use. It’s really helpful for girls.”
~ Ajmer
“Nisha is a brave girl because she had the courage to make her own decisions. In fact, [in the game] it was not Nisha, but me who was making the decisions!”
~Dehradun
“I believe the Go Nisha Go game has helped me in becoming more focused on my education and career. Like Nisha, I am also very aspirational and driven to achieve what I have wanted to. The game gives me hope.”
_
“I will make my brother play this game so he treats girls well.”
~ Patna
“My newly-married friends talk about not knowing enough about pregnancy prevention. This game is very useful in that sense.”
~ Ajmer
एचडीआई और भागीदार
The methodology
behind the game
In the Go Nisha Go™ game and digital platform, four interrelated, non-linear pathways create an experience that engages, empowers, and educates game users.
In the Discover pathway, the Proteus Effect theorizes that experiencing different outcomes made for an avatar, resembling the players themselves, promotes emulation of avatar behavior, and consequently, real-life agency.
The decision-making pathway is rooted in impact learning and motivation theory of role modeling, which ‘nudges’ the players to make informed decisions about their health, relationships, and to demonstrate confidence.
In the Discover pathway, the Proteus Effect theorizes that experiencing different outcomes made for an avatar, resembling the players themselves, promotes emulation of avatar behavior, and consequently, real-life agency.
The act pathway integrates behavioral economics, psychology, and marketing to enable the players’ direct access to information, products, and services within the game, through strategic partnerships with the private sector.
This approach of using multiple, and multi-disciplinary, pathways to change, is of particular interest for impact measurement of innovations, especially digital products that do not easily conform with traditional behavior change models or standard co-design approaches.
There are benefits of using cumulative and iterative inputs to integrate user feedback while formulating the pathway to study impact - not just limiting it to the design and development process, but continuously collecting data to modify and improve outcomes.
Want to read about Game of Choice,
Not Chance approach in more detail?
Youth-centered,
data-driven
Different research methodologies are being applied to establish the effectiveness and impact of the game. Predictive Analytics modeling is being applied to capture in-game data, identify associations, make predictions, as well as create precision messaging based on in-game behaviors.
This multi-angle research approach can translate the player’s gaming experience into making informed decisions with intention in real life – not by chance. Pre-and post-game launch surveys will be conducted as part of an outcome evaluation that will measure knowledge gained outside the game - changes in attitudes, perceptions, and select behaviors.
एचडीआई और भागीदार
Game of Choice, Not Chance™ (GOC) is an initiative led by Howard Delafield International and implemented through partnerships. The GOC team of experts includes game developers and designers, science researchers and public health technical experts, data scientists, behavioral change specialists, as well as marketing and communication professionals.
Howard Delafield International, LLP (HDI) is a small business specializing in innovative learning solutions and technologies designed to drive prosperity and safety. Leveraging our expertise in research, commercial strategies, and cutting-edge technologies, we are dedicated to improving health outcomes and enhancing the well-being of underrepresented communities globally. Our commitment to measurable impact is reflected in a rigorous, research-driven approach, ensuring our work is both effective and transformative.
Where we're heading
From India, Nepal and beyond, we’re opening up a world of possibilities through gameplay.
Expanding regionally
We are in the early stages of scaling and adapting our many games like Go Nisha Go in Nepal and more regions.
Co-creating a game with boys
We’re using Game of Choice, Not Chance™ platform to craft a new game with and for boys and young men in India that is complementary to Go Nisha Go. The new gaming innovation led by Howard Delafield International will promote allyship, support aspirations and generate demand amongst boys for adolescent fertility awareness information and services.
Making a suite of games and digital AI-based products
To support the scale up and sustainability of Go Nisha Go game, we are building on existing methodology, Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) infrastructure, and youth-friendly content and storylines.
Get in the Game
As navigators of their own lives and tomorrow’s leaders, young people need guidance on their journey toward empowered decision-making. HDI and Game of Choice, Not Chance community are committed to creating gaming innovations that support adolescents and youth in building their decision-making muscle so they can confidently live more self-defined lives.
If putting youth at the center of gamified, tech-based solutions is your game, our growing community may be for you! Let's work together to support young people's prosperity.
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